By Caroline Foley ’21
Over the summer, as the school year grew closer and closer, it was still unclear how Beverly High School would be reopening: full-remote, hybrid, or a safer in-person model. Eventually, it was announced that BHS would start remotely, and transition to a hybrid model if things were going well. Another option was given to students however. Instead of participating in whatever model the school decided on, students could opt to join the Remote Learning Academy.
The Remote Learning Academy (RLA) is a completely online, separate curriculum that students were given the option of participating in instead of the regular BHS schedule. The RLA students study at a different pace than their peers in the hybrid model.
Shannon Leftridge is a student who enrolled in RLA this year. She chose this option due to family health issues, and thought it best to not worry about having to go to classes in person in a hybrid model.
“I’m very pleased to have joined RLA,” Shannon wrote. “The classwork is at your own pace, and I don’t have to wake up early to walk to school, so that’s a plus. But it’s sad that I won’t be able to be in Orchestra or see my friends.”
Shannon is President of the BHS String Ensemble, and when she first got her school schedule this year, she thought she was still able to participate in the group. However, this wasn’t the case, and she was later told she was not in the String Ensemble this year, because the class was not a part of RLA.
Another issue with RLA is its schedule.
“In RLA, we follow the hybrid schedule, which absolutely has no flow. We would definitely get a lot more work done if we had the full 84 minutes.”
Although they work at a separate pace than the other students, RLA classes follow the complicated hybrid schedule that BHS is using. BHS teachers still teach the core classes for RLA, so they need to be able to fit their remote classes into the BHS schedule. This means students have a shortened class in the morning and another in the afternoon. It’s hard to get a lot done when in each class your teacher only gets about 20 minutes at a time to teach.
Still, RLA has been a great opportunity for students to study at their own pace in a safer environment during the pandemic. A larger variety of electives are offered to students, and they can learn at their own pace. For some students, RLA offers a great opportunity for freedom in their schedule and the way they learn, and it keeps themselves and their families out of the potentially risky indoor class model of Beverly High School.
